Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The story of the Etruscans is an interesting one -- interesting
and obscure.

Their history is remarkable when measured by their accomplishments
as merchants, craftsmen, traders, and influencers of Rome, but we only know
pieces of their story. The emperor Claudius tried to help us by chronicling
their history in twenty volumes, but his work did not survive. Meanwhile, the Etruscan
language has defied our understanding and, other than some decoding of artifacts,
we can’t read it. Still, three of the Roman kings were Etruscans who helped
launch the Republic.

Ultimately, the Etruscan culture would die and fulfill an
ironic prophesy.

The area of Italy we know today as Tuscany was originally
settled by the Villanovans, an iron age culture that had migrated from Northern
Europe. The Tuscan branch is referred to as the Northern Villanovans but there
was also a southern faction extending beyond Rome into Campania. The term
Villanovan comes from their discovery in an ancient cemetery near Villanova
Italy, eight miles from Bologna. The Villanovans were not a uniform culture or
society, but more of a group of tribes with common interests. They were expert
metal smiths and potters who cremated their dead and buried them in cone-shaped
graves. The earliest Villanovan evidence dates from the beginning of the Iron
Age and continues to 500 B.C. Through artifacts, we can document their social evolution
showing the tribes transitioning into a socio-economic hierarchy.

Around 750 B.C. another race arrived and displaced the
Villanovans. According to Herodotus, the newcomers, eventually labeled Etruscans,
came from Asia Minor. He writes in book 1 chapter 94:

“The customs of the Lydians (Asia
Minor east of Ionia) are like those of the Greeks... They were the first men
whom we know who coined and used gold and silver currency; and they were the
first to sell by retail. …In the reign of Atys son of Manes there was great
scarcity of food in allLydia. For a while the Lydians bore this with what patience
they could; presently, when the famine did not abate, they looked for remedies,
and different plans were devised by different men… But the famine did not cease
to trouble them, and instead afflicted them even more. At last their king
divided the people into two groups, and made them draw lots, so that the one
group should remain and the other leave the country; he himself was to be the
head of those who drew the lot to remain there, and his son, whose name was
Tyrrhenus, of those who departed. Then the one group, having drawn the lot,
left the country and came down toSmyrnaand
built ships, in which they loaded all their goods that could be transported
aboard ship, and sailed away to seek a livelihood and a country; until at last,
after sojourning with one people after another, they came to the Ombrici
(Umbria Italy)where they founded
cities and have lived ever since. They no longer called themselves Lydians, but
Tyrrhenians, after the name of the king's son who had led them there.”

What we see in the archaeology is the appearance of Etruscan
settlements where Villanovan settlements once stood. Why? Perhaps they
co-existed and eventually merged into one culture. The Romans called these
people Tusci or Etrusci, creating the link to the region later called Tuscany.

The map shown above shows the territory of Etruria with its
major cities.

The Etruscans were farmers first – taming the wild land of
Tuscany to grow emmer (a type of wheat) which was husked and unsuitable for
bread making until they were able to create new cultivars. Olive oil was unknown
in Etruria as late as 581 B.C, but must have been imported from Greece. Home
grown wine grapes, like olive trees came later. The Etruscans were skilled at
irrigation, and the excavated tunnels suggest an organized approach and central
authority behind the engineering.

Although Italy is not blessed with significant metal
resources, what is there was concentrated in Etruria and, as metalworkers, the
Etruscans excelled. They mined and worked precious metals, tin to make bronze,
and iron. The photograph below shows an example of Etruscan craftsmanship.

Jewelry and metalwork became items of trade for the
Etruscans and they developed a substantial merchant fleet. Allies of the
Carthaginians, they traded throughout the Mediterranean including Southern
France and Spain.

Tarchna (Tarquinnii) was perhaps the richest and most famous
of the Etruscan cities. At its peak from 650-500 B.C, Tarchna was the center of
bronze production in Etruria. Everywhere in the archaeology of the city we see a
culture with evolving sophistication. The dead were cremated and buried in
painted amphoras, temples were built, and life was represented in art –
banquets, dancing, athletics, chariot racing, and hunting. We also see an early
political system made up of clans, anticipating the Republic.

Ancient Rome was also Villanovan, but there was no Etruscan
Villanovan marriage there. One suspects the independent nature of the native Latins was responsible for
blocking Etruscan assimilation. Ultimately the Etruscans would occupy Rome, but
it was not by a gradual mixing of cultures. Prior to their arrival, the Latins were mostly
a pastoral people. The Etruscans influenced them to become more commercial (and
maybe the Greeks in Campania had an influence also). The end result was the
light went on for the Latins and their culture began to advance. In Rome, the
Etruscan influence was everywhere – from the new temples that were constructed to
the evolving political system.

Historically, Etruria was made up of an alliance of free independent
city-states. Although they had common interests, the cities openly competed
with each other and went to war when necessary. The ruler was an all-powerful
king who acted as both a political and religious leader. Unfortunately, we know
little of the Etruscan political system outside the period when they gained influence
over Rome and the history was recorded. The last three kings of Rome were
Etruscan (616-510 B.C.), so we can see Etruscan influence over the formation of
the Roman government, which was different from the historical Etruscan model.
During that period, across the Mediterranean and into Asia, aristocratic
factions had begun to peck away at the authority of the kings.

The first Etruscan king of Rome, L. Tarquinius Priscus, created
one hundred new Senators to win popular support, so even at this early point of
Roman history the king was not powerful enough to function as an autocrat.
Priscus also build the first wall around Rome and added sewers to drain the
Forum. His successor, Servius Tullius, divided Rome into tribes and instituted
the census for the first time. He created the Centuriate assembly which
classified the army by wealth and gave the wealthy the most powerful voting blocks.
In 509 B.C, the last Roman king, L. Tarquinius Superbus, was expelled and Rome
became a Republic.

The ascendancy of the Republic hastened the decline of the
Etruscans. The nearest Etruscan city, Veii, fell to the Romans in 396 B.C. At
the same time, the Northern Etruscan cities were attacked and ravaged by a
Gallic invasion. By 273 B.C. Etruria was firmly under Roman control as part of
an Italian confederation. As time went on. the Etruscans provided troops to the
Republican army and, during the Second Punic War, they were able to avoid
Hannibal all together. Later, they took sides in the civil wars supporting
Caesar and suffered devastation as a result. The Etruscan culture ultimately
faded into history.

In the beginning of the article I mentioned an ironic
prophesy, which was the prediction of the end of their civilization. The
Etruscans were ultra-religious and I think it was Cicero who said they were the
most religious people in the world. They believed their race (or any race) is
given a fixed span of time by the gods – in their case 10 saecula of 70 years.
The Etruscan civilization was established in about 750 B.C and after the 700 years had
passed, they were no more.

Overall, I believe that your piece does a very good job of summarizing the Etruscan civilization. One point of clarification regarding the Etruscans' origins though. While Herodotus' Anatolian theory is perhaps the most well-known of the different theories on the Etruscan origins, many do not believe that the Etruscans originated in Lydia. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, writing in the first century B.C., was the first to raise the question. He believed that the Etruscans were an indigenous group within Italy. Modern scholars are still in disagreement regarding where the Etruscans came from. Several genetic studies on ancient Etruscan remains, as well as modern Tuscans, have been performed, but while some of these studies say Herodotus got it right, others disagree.

Thanks for your comment. I'm aware of the views of Dionysius on the subject of the Etruscans.

I look at all views on a topic and then select the one I consider to have the strongest case in order to avoid exposing my readers to a stuffy academic debate.

Scholars have repeatedly looked at the Etruscans as indigenous (or more correctly autochthonous), Northern European, or Asian, but there are some aspects of their language and alphabet that are more Asian than European. Still, we don't know for sure.

If you're interested in the detail, I highly recommend HH Scullard's book "The Etruscan Cities and Rome".